A Dream Worth Waiting For
by dazzledwizandwizard
Summary: AH AU OOC. Bella Swan has been isolated her whole life. The day she turns 18, she leaves behind the life she wishes she never knew. With Edward's help, will she be able to live the life she's always dreamed of?


**A Dream Worth Waiting For**

**Chapter 1: Escape**

**Disclaimer: We own nothing. Ms Meyer is the queen of all Twilightdom and we are simple Minnesotan peasants who lay at her feet and fuck with her characters**

"Life, misfortunes, **isolation,** abandonment, poverty, are battlefields which have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the illustrious heroes" -Victor Hugo

We dedicate this story to all of those who have dreamed of flying away.

**BPOV**

My 18th birthday. Today was my 18th birthday. I swear I'm going crazy. Eighteen years, I have been here for eighteen long, grueling years. 6,570 days. I don't even know what a sunset looks like. I barely know what one is. I have never left this place, and the only time I've seen another human being is whenever my guardians bring me my meals and when they "teach" me.

My guardians are actually my parents, but by the way they've treated me, they deserve no such respect as to be called my parents. They have kept me in this basement all my life. There is nothing in here except a couch. Not even a window. The only thing I've been taught is common knowledge and a bit of the English language. Renee, or mother, as she insists I call her to her face, gave me my first book, _Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul_, on my thirteenth birthday.

She may have thought that it was an unimportant book, but from it I learned two things that changed my life; 1) your situation is not set, no matter how hopeless it seems, and 2) when you turn 18, you can make your own decisions as an adult, you belong to _yourself. _

Since then, I have counted everyday up until today, this monumental moment when I leave this dark, dreary cellar that the guardians have kept me in for my entire existence. I tell you this in hopes that perhaps you will be able to grip, not understand, just grip, what my life has been like and understand why today is so hugely important.

Today is the day is the day I get to _see. _See the sky, the grass..._people_. I get to hear sounds and smell nature. I get to be _free_. I get to experience life, leave this moldy must filled room and be a person. Live a life that I have only been able to escape in my book and my dreams. My dreary existence is going to change..._today._ Go from dreary, to something worth living for, I hope.

I know from what I have read that I am free today because of my age. No, my guardians wouldn't have told me that. They are too busy keeping me caged-as one does a ravenous animal, thirsty for blood-while I have been dreaming of this day since my thirteenth birthday. After which, time meant something to me. I have looked forward to this day more than anything else in my existence. I have been waiting for _today. _

I begin to walk towards the stairs that lead up from this isolated hell hole. I take a deep breath; I have been practicing these steps, learning the creaks and the feel of the hard concrete below my feet all in preparation for_today._

I begin to get worried as I make my way to the basement door. My sights set on only one thing. They can't stop me, I'm 18. I have planned this for the past 1,825 days. Since that of my thirteenth birthday when Renee gave me my book telling me I was a teenager now, that it was a new beginning in my life. How right she was. I take a deep breath and open the door.

It's bright. Brighter than the fluorescent lights I've always known. The sun. I've read about it, but never seen it. I didn't expect it to be so bright.

I slowly, carefully, cautiously, walked up the steps. A difficult feat. Never have I done this before. My legs are shaky, doing what my brain told them to. Nerve-wracking, I hadn't expected to become this scared. At the top, with a pounding heart, I walk forward. I walk through what seems to be a kitchen. It is brightly lit and yellow, but the color made my stomach turn. Too much color from what I'm used to. My life up to this point has only been gray and dreary, just the way my guardians wanted it.

I caught sight of a door and it seemed it led to the outside. I opened it and was met with extremely loud noises. I frantically shut the door. Breathing hard, in panic, I leaned against the door. It has been quiet all my life, I didn't know some thing could be so _loud_. It's frightening really.

I need this, I can't, _won't_, continue my life as a pet. Perhaps my guardians thought they were doing the right thing keeping me caged as one does a song bird. But no, this half life will not continue. I will _not_ be made a caged animal anymore. I take a deep breath. This is what I wanted, this is what I crave, behind this door is my liberty. I need it, if I want to survive. I know I don't have an education, a job, friends, or even relatives like my heroines do, but none of that is consequential to this. Freedom is more important. It outweighs any other luxury.

I look at the door, knowing I must hurry before the guardians get home. They won't call the police, they aren't dumb enough, and if I should get in trouble by the authorities for leaving, I will laugh because isolation is the worst form of torture that any one can imagine. Your body will heal, but I know my mind and soul are permanently scarred.

I clench and unclench my fists to stop my hands from shaking. Not working. I put my quivering hand on the door knob. I will not be a slave to my own fear any longer. Now expecting the noise, I took a deep breath and stepped into the world.

It was even brighter outside, and I hated, but loved, the way my pupils painfully dilated. It was wonderful. I began to walk down the street, enjoying the cool breeze and warm sun on my face, the way the everything was just so real.

I heard small children laughing and began walking toward the sound. I wanted to laugh. It just sounded so carefree and that was what I wanted now and forever.

I walk to the park where the children were, and I couldn't help but let loose the huge smile that spread across my face. My first genuine smile. It felt good.

A little girl in a pink dress was fighting off her mother's hands as she licked her thumb and began rubbing the girl's face. The mother looked annoyed but underneath it was a look of pure joy and unhidden love that filled her eyes as she looked at the squirming child in her arms.

Tears pricked my eyes at the love there. I wish Renee and Charlie had once, just once, looked at me that way. Then maybe it wouldn't have been so horrible, knowing that someone out there loved me and didn't think of me as a parasitic leech draining their energy as the guardians had always made it seem.

I sit down on a swing nearby, looking at the clouds in the sky. I couldn't look at the love, it's too wonderfully painful. Painful, because I don't, and probably will never, have it, and wonderful because it existed. A small smile graced my face.

I turn my attention towards the ground and begin kicking the small rocks at my feet. I watch them roll and dance across the others when I hear a small voice near me clear their throat.

I ignore it, deciding that no one was going to talk to me. I knew no one.

"Are you okay?" a small voice asks me from beside my shoulder.

I look up on instinct and saw a beautiful small girl with black hair and blue grey eyes looking into my own.

"I'm fine," I whispered hoarsely. Jeez my voice was so rough. I very rarely used it and it sounded as if dust would come flying out of my throat.

"No offense, but you seriously do not look fine," a beautiful blonde girl answered before the black haired one could.

I saw the pixie-like girl send her friend a fearsome look and then she looked back to me with kind eyes. "Can we help you? You look...lost."

I dropped my head, she had no clue. I _was_ lost. I was lost…lost from everything I had ever known, hated, and took comfort in. I knew I couldn't go back, but a part of me, a less, or perhaps more rational part of me, kept at me in the back of my mind. What are you going to do? Where are you going to live? How are you going to make the most of your life?

I guess I must have zoned out because when I looked back up, the tall, statuesque blonde was gone and calling over her shoulder to the pixie to let sleeping dogs lie. Whatever that meant.

I looked into her eyes again and saw a look I had never seen before, so I said the first thing I could think of, "What are those guys doing?" I pointed over to a few guys who I guessed were close to my age and saw that they were huddled in a circle, while a large burly man was tossing an odd-shaped ball between his hands, joking with the blonde who hit his arm. I was utterly confused as to what the two boys were doing.

"Oh well Jazz, really hates Emmett's constant stream of shit, so he is trying to think of a plan to sink him, which won't work. And Emmett and Rose are doing their own form of foreplay." She giggled the last part as she sat beside me on another swing and I watched as the blonde-Rose- slapped Emmett and he laughed good heartedly. I laughed a little too.

"What does foreplay mean?" I asked, curious.

She gave me this weird look, but didn't answer right away. She seemed to not know what to say. "You're kidding right?" I shook my head. She blew out a breath. "Okay, so it's basically the prelude to sex, you know, what happens before." I blushed. Oh god, I don't want to get into another talk like this. The one with Renee was bad enough.

I look back at the group of guys. Oh, I had read about football. I knew the basic makeup of it and I had heard Charlie yell at the television from my basement.

I looked over at the pixie and smiled, she returned it and then stuck out her hand. "I'm Alice," she chirped.

"Bella," I said slightly uneasy as I took her hand.

I didn't have to talk much with Alice, and I responded to her questions vaguely until the game ended.

A handsome blonde boy came over and drawled out something about being sick of cheating pompous asses and asked if Alice was ready to leave. I felt slightly on edge given that all the ''discipline'' in the house had been given by Charlie, but Alice seemed perfectly at ease with the man and smiled as he took her hand. I shuddered. She nodded and then looked back at me. The sun was beginning to dip into the horizon and she asked, "Where are you staying Bella?"

"Umm, around here," I responded.

"I hope to see you again soon." She smiled.

"Likewise."

She walked away with the man hand in hand and leaned her head against his arm. He towered over her, but they looked like they belonged together, though it frightened me. I smiled, so much love in one day.

I stood from my swing, popping my joints and then looked around. I felt pretty safe here and given that I had no where else to go I decided to sleep at the park.

I walked towards the park and weighed my options. I could sleep in a tunnel, a slide, or under on the rocks.

I chose the tunnel.

I walked over to it, checking it for any leftover children or animals, and laid down in it. It was a warm night so the blue t-shirt I had was fine to wear for the night. I looked at the top of the tunnel and noticed that the top half was missing a large chunk. I moved my face, so that it was directly beneath it and looked up. A wonder-filled sigh escaped my lips.

The sky was full of stars. So far away, distant, but there they were, dilling the sky with their magnificence. They were far away, but people could see what they were and know, or at least at that moment I did, that no one is alone, there is, or will be, someone there who wants to love and admire you, as I did the stars. I fell asleep that night for the first time as a _free _woman.

**Hello lovely readers. This story is coauthored by dazzlefy-me1309 and xoxoTeamEdwardxoxo.**

**We would love some love on this one. We are much to modest of our own abilities and as such it would be much appreciated for a yay or nay from you darlings.**

**Ok enough of the southern belle stuff. Reviews equal love, and a continuation of this story. We need to know if you want to read it**

**-Wizard B and Wiz Mel **


End file.
